East Side Gallery, Berlin Wall

I visited Berlin in October 2017 and I was in awe of the historical monuments & remembrance. On the drive from the airport to our hotel, our driver pointed out the East Side of the Berlin Wall which has been decorated by many artists (and graffiti) since it has stopped being functional.
In school, we didn’t learn about the Berlin Wall or the Cold War, when learning about Germany there was always a focus on WW2.Context:
The communists in East Germany started building a wall to keep the Western fascists out & to stop the ‘flood’ of refugees from Eastern Europe from entering Western Europe such as France.
At least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or through the wall between 1961 until the Wall came down in 1989.My Perspective
When we visited East Side Gallery (part of the Wall on the East Side of Berlin), I was blown away by the type of art chosen in memorial, many of which depicted either what life was like during the Wall or warnings not to repeat history.
It struck me that Berlin wanted to remember, they were not going to pretend that it didn’t happen, because it did. As Edmund Burke said ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’
This quote reminds me of this section of the wall.
Obviously, this is newly added by a graffiti artist but still relevant, no more wars, no more walls, a united world.
Surely we are stronger together rather than every man for himself.
All of these pictures were taken on the East Side of the Wall and near a section that had been broken to allow the flow to both sides, there was a gate.
It looks on to what would have been the West Side of Berlin and when we walked on the other side of the wall I spotted this quote.
‘They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds’. I love the thought that people who are continually told they’re not enough or forced to conform can rise up and bloom into something more than the oppressors ever thought possible.

Here’s to learning from history and aiming to be the kindest and most compassionate that you can be.